


what was that for

by trippslair



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, in this house we love Lambo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:49:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26404507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trippslair/pseuds/trippslair
Summary: What Tsuna had foolishly hoped for while both his mom and Reborn were gone for the weekend was a chance to rest. Perhaps spend some quality time with his boyfriend.What he got instead was a thunderstorm and three scared children looking for comfort.
Relationships: Basil/Sawada Tsunayoshi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	what was that for

When Tsuna began to whine at his parents’ announcement that they’d be going on a weekend holiday, his mom had innocently assumed it was because he would miss her. She’d put her hands together, tilted her head, and with a smile assured him it was only for a few days. And he’d have the kids to keep him company!

Tsuna bristled at the memory. He dunked his head under the bathwater, trying to wash away the tension that’d come with the second day of reeling in the unruly set of children.

Coincidentally, Bianchi was off to Italy on a job, and even Reborn had mysteriously disappeared the morning his parents left. Tsuna’s one respite was having Basil over for the weekend as a much-needed extra pair of hands. And while he could think of about a million other ways to spend a weekend without either his parents or tutor looking over his shoulder, it would be a lie to say Tsuna didn’t have some fun playing with the little ones.

Even if they exhausted the hell out of him.

Somehow Tsuna had managed to get them all fed and bathed while keeping both himself and the house (mostly) intact. Sure, he hurt his butt when he slipped chasing after a naked Lambo, and a pair of grenades had blown small craters in their backyard. He had tried to cook the food his mom had bought but ended up ordering takeout after causing one small(ish) fire that Basil quickly doused. Still, overall Tsuna counted the weekend as a success.

By nighttime he could thankfully rely on the help of Fuuta as he was slightly older, slightly more reasonable, and luckily able to convince the two younger ones to go to bed after one last snack.

After he got out of the bath, Tsuna peeked into the kids’ room through the gap in the door. Fuuta shifted in his sleep, half pulling the blanket off Lambo, but all remained calm. Tsuna left the light on in the hallway as he went to his own room where Basil had just unfolded the futon and placed his belongings neatly next to it.

“You can use the bath,” Tsuna told him. He fell back on his bed, arms stretched to the sides. “If I fall asleep before you’re back, don’t wake me up. Just turn off the lights.”

How his mom went day in day out taking care of everyone—including Tsuna himself—and still managed to be upbeat and smiling by the end of it, Tsuna couldn’t begin to understand. Maybe that’s why Dad was taking her on holiday, he realized. Maybe Tsuna should have been a little less annoyed with them, he thought.

Basil went to pull the curtains shut, but not before casting a glance at the night sky. “Do you think it’s going to rain?” he asked. Dark clouds had moved in on Namimori at a rapid pace, blocking out every star and dyeing the heavens black. It would be a matter of minutes before they broke.

Tsuna sighed. “I’m afraid it’s going to do a lot more than rain.”

What that meant for how the rest of the evening would play out was a bridge he would cross once they got to it.

“Hey.” He held up his hand toward Basil, who responded by taking it in his. “Thanks,” Tsuna said. He linked their fingers loosely together. “For helping out today.”

“Of course, Sawada-dono. It was no problem.”

Tsuna’s heart still skipped a beat when Basil leaned down to kiss his cheek. In the next moment he turned his head to capture Basil’s lips instead.

“I changed my mind,” he said into the little space between them.

Basil laughed softly, a puff of air hitting Tsuna’s skin. “What about?”

“Do wake me up. If I fall asleep. I want to spend some more time with you.”

Basil chuckled again. “You need rest, Sawada-dono.” He stood. “I will still be here in the morning.”

Tsuna groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes. “Yeah, but then the kids will be up and we’re not going to get another single moment of peace before Mom gets back.”

“I’ll be quick,” Basil promised on his way out.

“Un. You better.”

Now that he was by himself in his room for what felt like the first time in forever, he found it eerily quiet. The wind picking up outside did nothing to lift the mood. Tsuna rolled over onto his stomach, head propped up on his arms to watch the dark sky through the space between the curtains. Ominous clouds reduced the half-moon to a blur. He held his heart for the storm that would be upon them soon enough.

Even if the day’s exhaustion already pulled at his eyes, he would try to stay up. To say Tsuna was desperate for at least a little more time to spend with Basil before sleep overtook him was an understatement.

He was so desperate, in fact, that he pushed up from the bed and started cleaning around the room. It’d been a while since Tsuna cared what the place looked like when anyone came over, and it showed. He figured, Basil as well as his other friends had already seen him at his worst—they could deal with a few school textbooks, video games, and miscellaneous underwear laying strewn about.

Tsuna finished stowing away his most recently failed test (math) deep within a drawer at his desk when Basil returned. He stopped in the doorway, the ends of his hair still dripping water onto the towel around his shoulders.

“Don’t give me that look,” Tsuna said.

“What look?”

“Like you’re impressed.” Tsuna’s eyebrows knit together. “I like to think you’ve seen me do a lot more interesting things than clean my room.”

Basil stepped over a pile of laundry—“I was getting to that!”—to place his folded up clothes with the rest of his things. “You are very impressive, Sawada-dono.”

“Now you’re just”—a yawn interrupted his words—“flattering me.”

Basil gave him another look, one consisting of an amused smile and a quirk of his eyebrow.

“I’m not tired,” Tsuna insisted.

“You are also a terrible liar.”

The Basil he knew now was a far cry from the compliant boy Tsuna’s dad had first sent to Japan. These days h was more than willing to call Tsuna on his nonsense and didn’t mind butting a few heads to get his way.

Tsuna closed his eyes with a sigh, relenting. Yes, he was tired. And it’d be best to sleep. He didn’t argue when Basil clicked the lights off, instead moving to get under the covers.

They hadn’t very well settled into their respective bed and futon before the first raindrops fell, echoing heavy on the rooftop. Then, a flash of lighting, and not a minute later three voices chorused outside Tsuna’s bedroom door.

“Tsuna-nii!”

“Tsuna-san!”

“Tsuna!”

Tsuna bolted upright. Turning to find Basil in the darkness, he held his finger to his lips. “Maybe if we stay really quiet,” he whispered, winking one eye shut, “they’ll just go away.”

Lighting lit the room through the gap in the curtains. Small shrieks resounded from the hallway.

“Or not,” Tsuna amended with a sigh. He had only just opened the door and three kids already clung to him.

I-pin held onto his leg. “Storm is loud, Tsuna-san.”

Fuuta hugged him around the torso, though the rain weakened his grip. “Tsuna-nii, can we sleep in here tonight?”

Lambo jumped back, his hands in his sides as he puffed out his chest. “Lambo-san isn’t scared! Lambo-san is—aah!” A clap of thunder shook the windows, and Lambo grabbed onto Tsuna’s arm tightest of them all. “L-Lambo-san is here to protect Tsuna,” he insisted.

“It’s the number one biggest storm to hit Japan this year, Tsuna-nii!”

He wasn’t going to challenge Fuuta on the accuracy of that ranking. It wouldn’t change the fact that he had three scared children on his hands, and no mother around to send them to for comfort.

“Fine, fine,” Tsuna said. He crouched to look Fuuta in the eye, putting his hand on the boy’s head. “You can stay here, alright? I’ll just have to go and get another futon. Basil-kun, can you watch them for a second?”

“Of course, Sawada-dono.”

They’d have to share, but Tsuna’s room was only so big. He’d already had to shift things around to create space to fit Basil earlier, but they could manage one more futon. He pulled one from the kids’ room and lugged it back down the hallway.

Immediately he noticed the mood inside had shifted. I-pin and Fuuta who moments ago had seemed on the verge of tears were now laughing as Lambo too shrieked with joy instead of fear.

Tsuna stepped inside to find the games he’d just so carefully put back in their place scattered across the floor, controllers untangled, and Lambo and I-pin jumping up and down excitedly as they pressed play on a racing game.

Tsuna blinked. “Basil-kun. What happened?”

“I tried to stop them!”

Lambo gripped the controller to his chest. “Tsuna can have turn after Lambo-san.”

“Lambo, I don’t even want…” He let his head hang and heaved a sigh. “Never mind.”

With Basil’s help he placed the table up against the wall to make room for the extra futon. Once that was laid out, Tsuna sat on the edge of his bed, leaning back on his hands as he admitted defeat.

So much for sleeping peacefully. Or doing anything peacefully ever again, so long as his home was riddled with tiny—and some not so tiny—freeloaders. Forget Reborn’s rigorous training and being targeted by mafioso, screaming children and a lack of sleep would be what wore him down to nothing in the end.

“They said they were too scared to sleep.” Basil stood in front of him, chin against his chest like he expected to be reprimanded. Tsuna supposed all that compliance hadn’t simply disappeared like snow in the sun.

When he’d asked for an explanation earlier, he hadn’t meant to sound angry, not at all. But his fatigue must have come across as irritation instead, and he could only think about how he didn’t want Basil to go to bed feeling like he’d done something wrong.

“Come here.” He reached over and tugged at Basil’s hand. “Sit. You’re going to catch a cold with your hair wet.”

“You don’t have to—”

Tsuna tilted his head and tried his own hand at the puppy eyes Fuuta liked to wage against him all too often. “Please let me?”

Basil didn’t object again before he settled between Tsuna’s legs, his back against the side of the bed. He leaned his head into Tsuna’s hands as Tsuna ran a towel over his tangled hair. Tsuna took his time combing his fingers through the damp blond strands. After his work seemed done, he ran his fingers through Basil’s hair absentmindedly for a while longer. On impulse, he leaned forward to nuzzle Basil’s cheek.

Basil tilted his head back so his smiling lips brushed Tsuna’s jaw as he asked, “What was that for?”

Tsuna hummed against Basil’s skin. “Hm. Nothing in particular.”

He sat up only because more yells began to fill the room. Fuuta was giving Lambo a run for his money on the racetrack, much to the dismay of the younger boy. Lambo’s exasperation as Fuuta beat him crossing the finish line only fueled everyone else’s laughter.

Lambo tossed the controller over to I-pin, crossing his arms over his chest. “Lambo-san _let_ Fuuta win.”

“Thank you, Lambo,” Fuuta said, knowing well enough to play along. He and Tsuna shared a conspiratorial smile.

Any fears of the storm raging outside seemed forgotten, but the more time passed, the more Tsuna felt sleep tugging at every part of his body, weighing him down and making him long for a soft pillow and warm covers.

“One last round,” he told the kids. They only agreed after he threatened to lock away all their snacks for the next day.

Before the race even ended Lambo had fallen asleep right in the middle of Tsuna’s bed so Tsuna had to move him carefully to the side before Fuuta and I-pin could crawl in next to him. If all he had to do to finally get some rest was give up his bed, he would do it gladly.

“We’ll be sleeping right here next to you,” he promised Fuuta, whose face had pulled into a frown again as thunder continued to rumble outdoors. The boy wrapped his arms around Tsuna’s neck one more time, wishing him goodnight before he nestled into the covers.

Tsuna waited up until their breaths evened out and Lambo began mumbling gibberish in his sleep. His hand found Basil’s across the covers of their futon.

“Good night,” he whispered.

“Sleep well, Sawada-dono.”

Tsuna could hardly remember closing his eyes before sleep took him away.

* * *

He woke with a start. The rain hadn’t let up—on the contrary, Tsuna was convinced it had only grown in force. Heavy drops ricochet off the window and light sparked across the ink black sky. His eyes shot over to the kids’ sleeping forms on the bed. All still, all well.

A strip of light fell across the room from the gap in the door. On Tsuna’s other side, Basil’s futon lay empty.

He stood, careful not to trip or make any noise at all as he staggered onto the hallway. Basil breached the top of the stairs just then.

“You were gone,” Tsuna mumbled, rubbing his bleary eyes.

“I was getting some water,” Basil said with a smile. He seemed amused by the sleepy Tsuna in front of him, laughing softly when Tsuna leaned his forehead against Basil’s shoulder.

“You made me get up,” he complained.

“Let’s go back, then.”

Tsuna shook his head. This was good. This was better. He wrapped his arms around Basil, setting his hands on the boy’s lower back. He could very well fall back asleep like this, standing in the middle of the hallway, Basil’s even breaths and steady heartbeat like a lullaby to drown out the heavy storm.

“Sawada-dono.” Basil curled his finger underneath Tsuna’s chin, tilting his head up. Tsuna leaned in before Basil had a chance to ask.

Basil kissed much like how he spoke. Gentle, deliberate. Tsuna for his part had learned to let himself be swept up in it, to follow the rise and fall of the waves as Basil tangled one hand in the hair at the base of his head and pressed slim fingers into his shoulder blade.

“What was that for?” Tsuna asked, breathless after they parted. He met Basil’s ocean blue eyes and felt warm all over.

Basil smiled. His eyes followed the line his thumb traced along Tsuna’s jaw. “I had been wanting to do that all day. But I didn’t wish to disturb you while you cared for the little ones.”

“I wouldn’t have minded if you’d disturbed me a little sooner.” Tsuna pressed their lips together again in a chaste kiss. His heart still stammered. If he could simply stay here, in relative silence, comforted by Basil’s presence while outside rain fell in sheets, he would be content.

Which of course meant that not three seconds later thunder shook the house, Tsuna’s bedroom door opened, and Lambo came peeking out. “Tsuna,” he said, voice unusually quiet. As though the kid finally realized the world didn’t revolve around him—that other people existed, and some of those people were trying to sleep right now.

Basil stepped back, leaving Tsuna cold and wishing for more time alone. He sighed. That simply wasn’t going to happen tonight.

“What is it, Lambo?” He shouldn’t have thought it so amusing that his Lightning guardian jumped at the next flash that lit the hallway.

“La-Lambo-san can’t protect you if you’re out here.”

“Basil-kun is protecting me.”

“Bu-But—”

Tsuna laughed, already giving in. “Alright.” He knelt and pat Lambo’s head. “I’ll come back with you. Is that better?”

The boy nodded, holding the tail of his suit clasped firmly in his small fists.

Tsuna picked Lambo up on his arm. He felt Basil at his back, exactly the calming presence he’d needed to get through the weekend. At the same time, the rain began to settle, drops falling with less and less intensity.

Lambo trailed back to his spot on Tsuna’s bed. Fuuta shifted for a moment, looking like he might wake, but he quickly settled back into sleep with a soft contented hum.

“Good night, Lambo,” Tsuna whispered.

He’d rarely heard Lambo so quiet as when he whispered the same words back to him, and he wouldn’t often experience such peace again.

Before Tsuna got back under the covers of his own futon, he inched it closer to Basil’s. To Basil’s questioning look he mumbled, “I want to cuddle.”

Basil opened his arms, welcoming Tsuna to curl up next to him so his head rested on Basil’s chest. Basil in turn wrapped his arms around the other and trailed his fingertips up and down Tsuna’s back.

“They needed their big brother tonight,” Basil said softly.

Tsuna hummed. Already he couldn’t keep his eyes open. “You’ll still be here in the morning, right?”

Basil pressed a kiss into his hair. “Right here,” he confirmed.

* * *

Tsuna’s mom would never hear about the storm that night, because even the kids forgot all about it by morning, when the sun warmed the room once more and Lambo thought the best way to wake Tsuna was by planting his feet firmly in the boy’s side. After Mom’s return, the kids only spoke excitedly to her about having a sleepover in Tsuna’s room, his cheeks warming when I-pin was a bit too forward about their sleeping arrangements. Nana and Iemitsu promptly began to discuss whether Basil should have his own room next time he stayed over.

(Nana believed they should trust the boys, Iemitsu brought up some unfortunate information about his own teenage boyhood to argue the opposite.)

When Tsuna dared to look Basil’s way, he found him tilting his head down so hair covered his eyes, his cheeks dyed a shade of red that matched Tsuna’s own.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on Twitter @TrippsLair. I'm rewatching this show and I don't have nearly enough ppl to shout to about it.


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